Precious

(front)(inside)
(back)

I found this cute card in Grace's school folder. Classic! This is a keeper.

Annual Christmas Lunch

Every year since we moved to Houston, our realtor has invited us for lunch at Champions Golf Club. It's really sweet of her to keep inviting us. We just fell in love with her and her husband when they were helping us find our home, and they just feel like family. I think they like to pretend that our children are their grandchildren. So they like to invite us to their club to see the beautiful Christmas trees and decorations. It's a really beautiful display, and I'm just kicking myself that I forgot our camera. I was determined to take pictures this year, and I walked out the door without the camera! So, what you have here are some not so great pictures taken with my trusty cell phone. At least it's something, right? But I didn't get a picture of our lovely host and hostess. I guess there's always next year.This picture really doesn't even come close to doing it justice. All around the bottoms of the trees were tons of talking/singing animals that the girls' all loved to play with, and there was an electric train that went around the trees as well. The whole back wall of the dining room is picture windows that look out onto the beautiful golf course. (Tiger Woods has even played this course!) Trevor dreams of belonging to this very exclusive club someday. I keep telling him to keep dreaming, 'cause it ain't happenin'! One, because I can think of a million other ways to spend that kind of money (hello, can we say newly remodeled kitchen?) And two, you have to be really good at golf, and have a certain handicap (sorry, that's golfing terminology) to even join. Sorry honey, but you need to keep practicing!

So, sorry for the terrible, grainy pictures. But we really did have a great time with some great people!

Ward Christmas Party

In the words of Chandler Bing: Could she BE any cuter? Our camera has been having issues, so it didn't catch how very cute she looked in the hat, she

would be posing so nice and smiling, and the camera would just take too long, and the lighting was wrong, yada yada yada...oh well, you can just imagine how very cute she looked. This is all taken at our ward christmas party last weekend.You would think this was all the proof she needed....But she came up to me and said, it's not the real Santa, mom. Me: "Why do you say that?" Grace: "Because he's wearing a ring." (Santa was wearing a gold band.) Me:"Well, why can't Santa wear a ring?!" Grace: she just shrugs her shoulders. Me: "Well, Santa can wear a ring." And that's how I left it. She still looked skeptical.

Santa

Okay, I know I just posted, but I forgot one thing. Melinda mentioned in her blog about her quandary with kids and "lying" to them about Santa. Well, I have had the same issues with Grace. She is a very curious kid, and I seriously think that if I don't use different "special" wrapping paper for the presents from Santa, she would probably notice and ask why Santa's stuff is wrapped just like everything else. When I was a kid, I couldn't have cared less, and I wouldn't have noticed. But she does. So she's been asking me about whether Santa is real. I always try to deflect and ask her, "well what do you think?" And she answers, "Yes, I think he's real." But then she'll start to tell me how a friend of hers told her he wasn't real. (I really want to smack this kid for putting the idea in her head in the first place!) But, even though she says she thinks he's real, I think she still has doubts. Because she wrote her letter to Santa a few days ago, and wanted me to mail it. I, of course, told her I would, and as soon as she'd gone to bed, ripped it open to see what it said. It had her list of what she wanted for Christmas, and among the ipod, bunny slippers, roller skates, and other things, she also asked for a "picshur of you" (Santa), and a "picshur of your elves". What can I say...I guess she just wants proof!

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and More...

Well, it sure feels like I haven't posted in FOREVER. I tell ya, heading into the holidays just makes life a little crazier. But I love it. November has just flown by. My parents came into town over Trevor's birthday, and we all spent the weekend in San Antonio. That was lots of fun to enjoy the nice weather and relax.
For Thanksgiving, we headed to Austin to spend it with our good friends, the Cluffs. They have four kids, and we have three, so it was a full house and a little crazy. But that's what makes it fun. Good friends, good food, good times. Thanks Jay and Julie for a wonderful weekend! Julie and I hit all the Black Friday (and Saturday) sales. I have two words for you, people: Potterybarn Outlet. Need I say more? What more could you want in life? Nothing, that's what. The whole entire store was 40% off except for the furniture...it was 60% off! I know, it just about made me pee my pants! I love that place. We shopped and shopped, and shopped some more over the two days. It was a lot of fun, and yes, we got up at the crack of dawn Friday morning because that's just what we do! It's fun to get up when it's still dark out, and just throw on some clothes and shop all around town with bedhead. After about noon, we felt like we needed to head back to at least shower, since most of the people we were seeing weren't the "early morning" crowd that looked like us anymore. But I got almost all my Christmas shopping done, so mission accomplished!
I have a small confession to make. My Christmas tree has been up and decorated since a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I know...it's against even my own rules. But we got a new tree this year. The $20 6-footer from WalMart that we bought 6 or 7 years ago, was screaming for a break. Or maybe it was just me screaming. Anyhow, we got a new one, and it's beautiful and the best part is it's PRE-LIT! Fantastic. So, we just couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up. And I figure, we won't be around over Christmas, so we needed to put it up early so we could enjoy it for as long as possible.
Well friends, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And I hope you all enjoy as much as I do this wonderful Christmas season. I promise to post pics next time I post.

Shots

So all three of my girls had well-check doctor's appointments today. I wanted to get all of them done, so we did it all today in hopes that it would be quick and painless. When I scheduled the appointmens 3 weeks ago, Grace happened to overhear the conversation and immediately started asking me over and over whether she would be given shots or not. You see, she is a sensitive child and little overly dramatic. She immediately started crying and carrying on about shots that she "might" receive in 3 WEEKS! I told her, she probably wouldn't need immunizations, but she would definitely be getting a flu shot, and she didn't need to worry...especially since it wasn't happening immediately. Well, when she woke up this morning, the first words out of her mouth were about the impending doctor's visit. I took the two younger girls to their appointments right after breakfast, and all went very smoothly. I was able to rationally tell Holly that she was going to get a quick poke, and it would be okay, and if she would be very good she would get a treat. She did her duty, put a brave face on, cried for just a few seconds, and then was good as gold. After that I was even able to talk her into going down to the lab where they would do another quick poke so they could take her blood to run some tests. She didn't even care! She rocked that blood test like no other 3 year old could. The baby cried for maybe a minute for her shots, but as soon as the band-aids were on, she was just fine. Well, after lunch, I go to check Grace out of school to take her to her appointment. As soon as she gets in the car it's the Spanish Inquisition! "Mom, how many shots do I have to have? Are they going to do it at the beginning or the end of the appointment? Are you sure it won't hurt worse than when I got my ears pierced, because I remember last time you told me that and it hurt worse, and I cried..." on and on and on. Seriously, last time this child had her shots, I was physically laying on top of her trying to restrain her long enough for the poor nurse to get the job done. Today was no different. A nurse came in to take the baby so I could help "restrain" Grace. She literally freaks out so much that she doesn't even feel the shots. It's the same thing every time. After all the screaming and commotion was over, she asked me what had happened. It's like she goes out of her mind, and doesn't even remember what happened! It's the anticipation that freaks her out. Next time, I am just not going to tell her when her appointment is, and just surprise her.
Trevor got his shots today, too, at work. So everyone in my little family (me excluded) were all comparing their band-aids and telling their "stories" tonight at bedtime. Funny stuff.

Ode to Trevor

Happy Birthday to the best-est husband a girl could ask for! Can I gush for just a moment? I don't know what I would do without you. You are the smartest, most patient, fun-loving, kind, hard-working, loveable, forgiving person I know--and you're cute to boot! You are such a wonderful daddy, and our girls just idolize you. Trev, I love you more than you know, and I hope you have a fantastic birthday!

My Personal Best Blonde Moment

I just need to preface this by telling myself that we all do dumb things...right? Or am I the only one?! Well, I was out running errands today. And I needed to run to the bank to deposit some checks. After that, I circled around to the ATM to pull out my bi-weekly grocery allotment. (I should have just done it while I was in the regular line! Hindsight is always 20/20.) Trevor's out of town for a few days, so I had called him on the phone with a question. So, I was somewhat distracted when I was at the ATM. I put in my debit card, entered the pin number, then the amount, told it I wanted a receipt, etc. etc. Then I took my card, and my receipt, and DROVE OFF! That's right, I drove off without taking my money. I just kept on talking to Trevor on the phone and drove away. Well, I was several blocks away when I realized my mistake, and shrieked into the phone, "Oh, shoot! I have to turn around! I'll call you back!!" All the way back to the bank, I was praying that no one had been to the ATM behind me and taken my money. I get back to the bank and another car is pulling up to the ATM. I jumped out of my car and flagged the lady down to try and tell her what I was doing. She probably thought I was some lunatic trying to hold her up or something. Well I see my money sticking out of the ATM, which I immediately grab. (Don't worry, the lady hadn't even put her card in yet.) But, the problem was, the money that was there did not equal the amount that I had asked for. But I knew that if someone had stolen my money, they would have stolen the entire amount. But the machine was clicking like it was still trying to spit the rest of the money out, and it was jammed or something. Well, the lady drove off without using the machine. Another car pulled up, and I told the man what had happened to me. He proceeded to use the ATM, and only got $60 of the $100 he had asked for. So, now we know for sure that the ATM is broken. Well, I get one of the teller's attention, and she tells me that someone had been there to fix the ATM this morning, but it must not be fixed yet. Nice. Could you put up a Out of Order sign or something? Sheesh! The teller then proceeds to tell me that she can't help me because she doesn't deal with ATM problems. I have to call the 1-800 number on the back of my debit card and they will resolve the problem in a few days. Meanwhile, I'm still freaking out in my mind because I had driven off...what if someone HAD taken my money? What if when they investigate my claim, and they check the records of the ATM it says that it gave me all my money? Then what? I guess I'll be out of a couple hundred dollars, and I will be one sad girl.

Moral of the story...do NOT talk on the phone while operating an ATM machine!!! Now I'm not the only one that has "blonde" moments, right? I want to hear your's!! (Hey Molly, I stole the picture from your blog...it was fitting for the subject matter, don't you think?)

Halloween

Well, I should be sweeping and mopping my kitchen whilst my children are sleeping...but I just had to finally put some Halloween pictures up! We had so much fun. Our ward had a Halloween party/trunk-or-treat. The primary was in charge of a cake walk. So, I spent many hours in my kitchen producing all sorts of treats to contribute. I was totally exhausted by the time the party rolled around. But it was fun, and totally worth it. The kids had a blast. Buzz Lightyear even made an appearance. In case you are wondering...Yes, Holly is Elphaba from Wicked--better known as the Wicked Witch of the West. And yes, we had to listen to the soundtrack in the car on the way to and from the party with all of us singing at the top of our lungs.I think the only reason Grace wanted to be a ballerina was so she could wear makeup--what a GIRL!!! And Baby Kate would NOT hold still for a picture. I chased her around with the camera for a long time trying to get a shot, but they all turned out blurry because she was constantly moving! But, in case you can't tell from the picture, she is sporting white onesy that says "Daddy's Little Pumpkin", and she is also wearing a black bat beanie that has wings. She looked really cute at the beginning of the night, but then she kept trying to pull the hat off and got her shirt all messy. Babies! I made these cute "mummy-dogs" our of rhode's rolls for dinner. The kids thought they were pretty cool. Trevor carved the pumpkins with the girls while I was searching the entire Houston area trying to find black shoestring licorice so I could make "spider" cookies. But, alas, I could not find any without having to drive downtown, which I wasn't willing to do. Although, after all the time I spent driving around locally I probably could have gone down there and back and saved some time! Arg! I need Macey's!! Oh well, next year, I will plan ahead of time.

I hope all of you had a fun and safe Halloween!!

Need I Say More?...

I got this following email, and I just couldn't resist posting it. Hilarious!


Be very specific when ordering a cake from Wal-Mart!

The Pumpkin Patch

Well, finally a beautiful, sunny, not-so-humid Fall day here in Houston that we enjoyed at the Pumpkin Patch. My kids have been talking about going for a couple of weeks, and had so much fun climbing on pumpkins, riding the train, going down the blow-up slide, picking out pumpkins, and of course, taking pictures!

Rain Pics

Okay, I got my camera working. So here are some pics. I don't know if you can really see the water level, but if you look at those small bushes, you can see that the water level goes up above them. Pretty crazy. At that stop sign in the distance is where the bus was stopped. I had to go out there in my flip flops and umbrella and carry her home. Grace stayed pretty dry...me on the other hand... the below picture shows how high the water was on me.

I know, not a fantastic picture, but it took Grace five tries with the camera to get one that wasn't blurry or had her finger in it. :)

Rain anyone?

Um, we're drowning out here! Help anyone?! I had some pretty crazy pictures to post on my blog of the water coming up to almost my waist when I got Grace off the bus this afternoon. (Needless to say, I had to carry her home. The water would have been up to her neck!) But my camera has decided to go on the blink right after I took the pictures. Grr. So as soon as I extract my pictures from my memory card, I will show you the excitement of this very rainy Monday. Don't you wish you were here? :)

The Luckiest Guy I Know

Yes, Trevor is the luckiest guy I know. I mean, come on, he married me! :) And besides that, he did just get home from a pretty sweet trip to Spain (that's where the picture was taken.) But seriously, if we were gambling folks, I swear he would have hit the jackpot by now...or won the lottery. At work, if he is entered into a drawing, somehow he always wins. The last two years in a row, he has won 4 NFL suite tickets to see the Texans. I'm not much of a football fan (unless it's the Coug's), and the games are always on Sunday, so usually we just sell them. But they are pretty sweet tickets--worth almost $300 per ticket. And he didn't win them once, but twice. Then, the other day at work, he was entered into a drawing for a PlayStation 2 and the game Guitar Hero...and yep, he won. How does he do it?! So, as I sit here writing this post, he and the girls are jamming to Guitar Hero. So, I guess it's not very lucky for me, because now he will be spending his extra time not doing "honey-do" stuff, but playing games!

Happy Birthday Holly!!!

Well, little Holland Jane turned 3 this past week...on the 5th to be exact. I know, I'm very late in posting this, but better late than never. What a cute and clever and mischevous girl she is. I woke her up on her birthday morning, and Grace, Kate and I sang her Happy Birthday, and she put he arms in the air and shouted, "I'm Free!" I think she meant to say three, but who knows...maybe she thinks the legal age to be free from adult supervision is 3.

In this picture, she is sporting the Island Princess look--Princess Rosella. All you moms of girls are probably very well-versed in all things Barbie, so you need no explanation of how excited she was to open her dress-up costume. I'm pretty sure she's changed her mind about being Elphaba (from Wicked) for Halloween and now will be Princess Rosella. But, 3 year olds are fickle, so she may change her mind back--who knows.

We celebrated her birthday with Grandma Shell (Trevor's mom) at Chuck E Cheese--she wanted to do exactly what Grace had done on her birthday. And she opened up a few gifts that day too. But we waited to have cake with her daddy on Sunday night when he got home from Spain. (Welcome home Trev!)

I just want to say how much I love this little girl. She is such a little charmer, and despite all the naughtiness that happens when she's around, I wouldn't trade her for anything!

The World Traveler...that wouldn't be me

Well, I'm insanely jealous of where Trevor is for "work" this week--Barcelona, Spain. I say "work" because it isn't really work at all. I guess one of the perks of being a geologist in the company that he works for is that he gets to go on a geology field trip once a year. This is not riding on an old rundown school bus kind of field trip, people. They stay in really nice hotels, and they run around in the hills and look at rocks all day. Not only does he get to go somewhere cool, but he gets to choose where he wants to go. Last year, I made him choose somewhere completely uncool so that wouldn't be jealous. But this year, I'm totally jealous. He left yesterday and is going to be gone for 8 days. I kept holding out hope that he was going to pull out a ticket for me, too. I kept dropping all sorts of hints that it would be the BEST surprise ever if he took me with him. He's a little slow on taking those hints, I guess. But he said IS taking me with him next year. He's choosing between Ireland and France...nice! He just found out that he's going to Brazil next month. So, my husband, is being the world traveller that I have always wanted to be. I guess I will just have to live vicariously through his adventures for a while.

Pleasantly Surprised...

Well, I make no bones about saying how much I hate Walmart. It's just not my favorite place. I avoid going there at all costs. I've always disliked it a little bit, but since moving to where I live, my dislike has grown tremendously. I don't know what it is, oh wait, yes I do. It's probably due the fact that the Walmarts by my house are old and disgusting. The parking lot smells like fried food (yuck!) and it's filthy. Oh, and I feel like there's a risk of getting mugged. Now, I don't live in the ghetto. But the city I live in does not zone. So you can have a really nice, family-friendly neighborhood right next to a porn shop, or really creepy apartments, etc. Hence, there are scary people at Walmart!

But, given all the reasons I hate Walmart, I also am a sucker for a good deal. So, I find myself there once in a while to get some grocery shopping done. Well, yesterday I finally had some free time to get to the grocery store. Both kiddos had napped and were happy, so it was ideal. But as I pulled into the parking lot of the big W, I felt the dread wash over me. I'm muttering under my breath, "I HATE this place, why do I come here?" I was also in a quandary about which child would ride in the cart and how I was going to get out of there as quickly and painlessly as possible. I was debating whether or not I should leave the baby in her carseat or just carry her in. The first option didn't seem feasible because I needed Holly to ride in the cart as well, and there wasn't room for her, the baby's carseat with the baby in it, and food, too. What to do, what to do. Well, I took the baby out of her carseat, took Holly by the hand, and we headed into the store with the plan of putting the baby in the front of the cart and letting Holly run loose (which is usually a nightmare). We got through the parking lot and into the front door, and there it was...the answer to my problem. Walmart had a new kind of grocery cart for someone just like me. It was a normal-sized cart, with a baby seat in the front on the right side and the regular seat next to it for Holly. I couldn't believe my luck. Finally, a grocery cart that makes sense! (I usually steer clear of the grocery carts with the baby seats because they usually look disgusting, but these looked pretty clean, and hey, I was desperate!)

So, short story made very long. We survived our trip to Walmart. We were in and out in no time, no tantrums occurred (by me or the kids), and our fridge is now nicely stocked for the next week or two. So, maybe I won't dig my heels in everytime I have to brave Walmart. Or maybe I will...either way, I'm sure I'll go back, and I'll be grateful for that grocery cart that at least makes my kids more manageable.

Choices

Okay, so I'm really excited that I booked our airfare to come to Utah for Christmas. We haven't been home for Christmas for the past two years. Last year, we stayed here because I was too pregnant to fly; and the year before, we stayed because my family wanted to come to our house. So, pray for snow this winter because we are coming to bask in it!

So, the past few months we have been pricing tickets and trying to find some that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. The airlines really stick it to you at Christmas time (really, would you like my first born child, too?!) Because the prices were hanging around $500 per ticket (and we are buying FOUR tickets now people), we were seriously considering driving. In fact, we had decided to drive. But every time we thought about two straight days of driving with three kids, we would get nauseous....literally. It's not a pleasant experience. Well, we finally found some reasonable tickets on Frontier for about $300 each...not bad--but not a direct flight. We have to stop in Denver, which is a risk in winter due to snow. (So please pray for NO snow on Dec. 21st.) Well, Trevor went ahead and looked at prices through Continental, which is a direct flight. They were $500 more, and we would get there a day later. To me, it was a no-brainer. Save $500, get an extra day of vacation, and take the risk of the snow in denver. But Trevor was really pushing for the direct flight. Come on, would you pay $500 more to have a flight that is two hours shorter? Granted, flying with kids is NOT fun. But it's much better than 24 hours in the car...am I right? So I booked the Frontier flight. I don't know about you, but I can think of million ways to spend that extra $500 and NOT on a direct flight. So, now I ask you...what would you do given the same choice???

In Memoriam of...The Gilmore Girls

I know this is extremely old news, but I have to have a moment of silence for the Gilmore Girls. They gave us 7 wonderful, funny, fast-talking seasons of enjoyment. For those out there who don't know who these people are, I say shame on you! Really, this was one of the funniest shows on tv. The characters were so quirky and witty. The dialog so smart and word-y. The setting was so picturesque, it made me want to take a trip to the imaginary town of Star's Hollow. When my brother started med school at Yale, I actually had the thought, "oh, maybe he'll run into Rory." (I know, she's just a character.) So, as the Fall lineup of new shows and seasons start next week, I will be thinking about the lack of Lorelai's on tv. Goodbye girls, you will be missed!

No new material...

I don't know about you guys, but as I move through my week some things happen and I immediately think "I'm going to blog about that!" But this week, I feel like I've been living in a whirlwind. With school in session, I feel busier than ever. So, yesterday, Trevor saw that I had been reading blogs, and he immediately gets this excited look on his face and says "Did you update your blog?" And, of course, I had to say "No, I've got nothin'!" Nothing exciting or funny to blog about. No funny new pictures to post. No new milestones to record. So excuse the random thoughts that I am about to blog about.
So part of the reason why I feel much busier is because I have recently acquired addtional piano students. All last year, I had 10 students. Over the summer I lost four of them due to them moving away. And summer tends to be pretty light anyway because people are out of town, etc. So as school was approaching, all the sudden my phone kept ringing with new people wanting to start piano. I've never EVER advertised that I teach piano. It all started with my friend asking me to teach her daughter. And it has just spread by word of mouth. I think piano teachers must be few and far between here in good ole Texas. And I just have a hard time saying no. (Does anyone relate?) So I've gone from 6 students to 13. And I am definitely at my limit! I'm going to have to say no if anyone else calls. Trevor thinks I'm crazy for saying yes the last couple of times. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you have three little ones running around unsupervised during lessons (one of them being 7 months old), it can be a tad bit stressful. Don't worry the baby is supervised...it's just the other two......
I try to make it the Y every day so I can get some exercise. But things like sick kids, doctor's appointments, playgroups, church activities, etc tend to creep into our schedule as well. Yesterday, I had a dentist appointment in the morning. After I put Grace on the bus, the other girls and I went to the dentist. (Yes, I had to take them with me because all my babysitters are back to school as well!) But, thankfully, they were very well behaved. After that was over, we decided to surprise Grace and have lunch with her at school. This is a tradition we started last year. We would always have lunch with her on Fridays. We probably won't do it every week this year, but we still like to go sometimes. They have a special parent's table set up, so it's really fun for the kids. After our lunch date, I decided I didn't want to go home yet. So, we headed to one of my favorite places for some shopping therapy. Target. Need I say more? I had nothing that I needed. I just wanted to go and wander the aisles and see what there was to see. (Can you tell that I have been cooped up in my house a little too much lately?) Right now they have some really cute stuff in their dollar section. And I also found some cute new Sunday shoes, and some new shirts and a skirt. Yeah! Nothing can put me in a good mood better than Target (or Costco) when I need to get out of the house! So, there, that's it, I'm done with my random ramblings. I hope everyone out there has had a great week!

Watch out! Here comes Trouble...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I took these videos a few nights ago. Baby K is officially 7 months old. And she is major trouble! Since the video was taken, she now can pull herself up to a full standing position. She gets very disgruntled when I put her in her "cage." Yes, a few weeks ago I bought a play yard to help keep her contained and to give me a little sanity. But, I tell you, she's figured it out. Even though there is PLENTY of space to crawl, she gets mad when you put her into it. She wants to be free to crawl wherever her little heart desires. I'm not ready for this! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in the hospital delivering her? They grow up way too fast.

This picture is for Grandma-Shell. These are the kilts she brought to my girls all the way from Scotland! They looked so cute today at church in their matching kilts and mary janes. (And yes, H's shirt is severely wrinkled. Maybe next time I'll iron it!)
Well, these are my cute kids. I'm not biased or anything! :) Last night, as Trevor and I were driving home from a date, we were waiting in traffic because there was a train. We were discussing the appropriate amount to pay the babysitter. We usually pay our babysitters around $6 an hour. We were jokingly saying, "but our kids are so stinkin' cute...there's gotta be a cute child discount, right?" In our boredom (waiting for the train), we calculated that we pay 10 cents per minute, and then we broke it down even further and figured out that is about 3.3 cents per child per minute. That sounds pretty cheap! So, needless to say, we did not ask for the cute kid discount. They are worth every penny!

It Starts....

Well, we got through an entire week of school, and I already have a kid home from school sick. I'm beginning to have flashbacks of our first week of Kindergarten. Last year, after three days of school G came home with pink-eye. And from that point forward, it started a string of absences. Poor G's immune system just took a beating. Between September and December, I think she missed school 11 times. I even got the dreaded letter from the school district stating that if G missed many more days, she would have to repeat Kindergarten. What? They can make them take Kindergarten again?! Come on...she's a smart kid. She wasn't behind at all...but none the less, sickness was a regular occurrence. But it got better, after Christmas, we had a string of wellness. I was ecstatic! I would notice how healthy all of us were (probably because we were all home with a new baby and going nowhere, and washing hands a lot), but of course, me being the superstitious person that I am, whenever I would have those thoughts I would put them immediately out of my head and never utter the words out loud for fear that it would jinx us. Let's just say that we knock on wood a lot around here!
Anyway, I'm really hoping that this is not foreshadowing of what is to come this school year. I hate it when she misses school. I get all bent out of shape because of what it does to our routine and schedule. How selfish of me...but I was really looking forward to some good workouts at the Y this week. They were closed all last week for cleaning, and I ate WAY too much this weekend. And you all know about the M&Ms...so clearly I need to workout! So, get well soon G! By the way....what is she sick with, you ask? Pink Eye and a really bad cold. Do you see a pattern forming here?

M&Ms

All right, I have a problem. I admit it. Some of us talk about our vices being caffeinated beverages, and others of us, namely me, need to declare our love for chocolate. More specifically Peanut M&Ms. Remember a couple of months ago when I declared my love for Costco and my insatiable desire to buy things in bulk? It just makes me happy. Well, in recent months I've noticed that Costco starting carrying an XXL bag of peanut m&ms--that's 56 oz of deliciousness, my friends! But, I have resisted buying this because, I don't know, I don't need an 10 extra pounds on my hips coming solely from a bag of candy. But I must have mentioned to Trevor on one of our numerous trips to Costco my desire to buy it and that I wouldn't. Well, Trevor being the nice guy that he is, when he was buying me some flowers for our anniversary, also picked up one of the gargantuan bags of m&ms. I don't think he realized that that is like buying drugs for a recovering cocaine addict. Seriously. I think I've eaten nothing but m&ms for a week. And today, in my attempt to get them out of my house, I took them to G's birthday party and let her friends finish them off. That's right, the whole bag is gone. I was so glad this morning that they were gone. But now that it's 9:30 pm, and I'm craving a little chocolate, there is none to be had! I'm going through major withdrawals! I told Trevor that I was probably going to have to buy another bag. I need to get some help. Moral of the story...never never never ever buy the big bag of m&ms from Costco...it will only lead to weight gain and tears. :)

Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl!

I can't believe my baby girl is now 6 years old...and starting 1st Grade on Monday! I'm so ready for summer to be over. We all need a little more structure and organization in our lives. So, back to the big birthday. G's birthday was Tuesday, and we went out to dinner with our little fam to Friday's. She was so excited when the employees sang her happy birthday. She's having a party with her friends at Chuck E Cheese tomorrow. I've been working on her birthday cake all night tonight, and I took a few pics to share. I hope this makes up for last year, when she got cupcakes from a box for her birthday. (No one got cute cakes last year--or homemade dinner for that matter.)

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On a completely different (and maybe slightly inappropriate) note, I am proud to announce that she finally did it! H is potty trained! It was like one day the lights suddenly turned on and she just got it. I am so glad we have moved past the diaper phase with her. I'm not saying she's perfect at it yet...but hey, she's pretty darn near it!

A history of anniversaries...

Happy 7th Anniversary to US!

I can't believe how fast seven years has gone by. Today I was remembering all the anniversaries we have celebrated, and I thought I'd share them with ya'll:

2001--It was 5 days before G was born (yeah, we didn't waste any time, did we), so I was hugely pregnant and we couldn't do much of anything. We were living in Wyview and very poor, so I remember we went to a movie at good ole Movies 8. I don't even remember what we went to see.

2002--We were in Yellowstone on a fun weekend trip with some cousins. We even left G at home with grandparents. It was fun because we went to Jackson Hole, which had fun memories because that's where we went on our honeymoon.

2003--Our anniversary was the night before Trevor was leaving to go to Texas to start school. Our house we were purchasing wasn't done yet, so he was going alone and Grace and I were coming a week later. Needless to say, we were in the middle of packing and it was a pretty crazy time. We did get to go out to dinner, though. Trev took me to a place up in SLC called Tiburon...it was really good.

2004--Again, I was very pregnant, this time with H. We didn't have anyone that could babysit G, so she came along to this Chinese restaurant that we had heard good things about in Austin. The food ended up being really gross, and it was a bummer that we couldn't even get a night out alone.

2005--We had been in Houston a couple of months, and Trevor had just been made EQ pres, so of course he had a stake leadership meeting on our anniversary. We were able to go to dinner, but it was cut really short because of the meeting.

2006--Let's see, last year, yet again I was pregnant, but this time I was in the early stages and very sick. Plus, it was the first day of Kindergarten for G. I don't remember if we even got to go out. I don't think we did because food didn't start sounding good to me until around November.

2007--Well, today I've spent most of the day curled up in the fetal position fighting off some sort of stomach virus that has been raging through our family. I guess we couldn't let all our friends and family living in Utah County suffer alone. So, we won't be doing much celebrating today. Hopefully I'll be better by Saturday, so we can at least go out to dinner.

Looking at the crazy history of anniversaries that we have had, it's amazing to me that we even had time and a clear calendar seven years ago to even get married! But, it's been a great seven years. I'm still the luckiest girl in the world to have married my best friend.

Tag, I'm It!

1. How did you meet your spouse?
Well, actually in the 1st grade! Although, neither one of us knew that until high school. But it's kinda fun to look at our 1st grade class picture, and there we both are. But all of you know the rest of the story--friends in high school, dated after he got home from his mission, and the rest is history.

2. What can you live without?
Of course, I have to say roaches, or any kind of bug for that matter.

3. 3 Favorite Books
I don't know if I can narrow it down to just three, because I just love to read. So my favorite books are the ones I'm in the process of reading. But most recently, Harry Potter#7, Eclipse, and I really like any book from Brock and Bodie Thoene.

4. What was your favorite subject in school?
Probably US History in high school. In college, I really liked my Accounting classes--does that make me a total nerd?

5. What is your favorite memory?
So hard to narrow down...but from childhood, I remember in the 1st grade, my parents took us out of school and surprised us with a trip to Disneyland. I thought they were so cool for surprising us, because we really had no clue. I also love Christmas mornings and any kind of holiday spent with family. Another fun memory is, last November I flew to Utah and surprised my mom for her 50th birthday. That was a real kick in the pants. Surprises are so much fun.

6. 3 Guilty Pleasures
Blogging! (My kids get severely neglected when I log on.)
Chocolate Chip cookie dough
photobooking--when I get going I just can't stop! (again, it's a guilty pleasure because of the neglect involved.)

7. If you were stranded on an island what is the one thing you would wantto have?
chocolate chip cookie dough. kidding--or am I?

8. Describe your ideal vacation (where, how long, who with, etc.)
I really want to take Trevor to Europe. I went back in 2000 with Megan and my cousin, and it was such a fun trip. I want to spend a week on the Amalfi Coast in Italy basking in the sun, and eating really good Italian food.

9. How did you know you were in love?
Trevor likes to tell people it's because I told him he didn't make me sick. And I have to clarify that by saying that any other relationship I had been in, just didn't feel right; hence it would make me "sick." (not in a literal sense) With him, there was just a feeling of calm and peace, and I knew it was right. And by the way, I remember having this exact thought one day when we were all sitting at lunch in high school--"Whoever marries that Trevor Aitken is sure going to be the luckiest girl in the world." And who would have known, that it would be me...the luckiest girl in the world!

10. What is your favorite kind of gum?
I actually have no love for gum. I would rather have a tic tac.

Watch those emails I will tagging someone soon!

Baby K is 6 months! New Family Pics

Could she be any cuter???

No...I don't think so.

Music

I'm so proud that I figured out how to put music on my blog! Thanks to my good blogging buddies for showing me the latest and the greatest...I'd be lost without you! So, it's a pretty wide variety of random songs. I hope you enjoy.

Random thoughts from the gangsta 'hood

So last week I had to go to the doctor to have a blood test. A regular occurrence for me because of my thyroid. Well, as the lab technician was taking my blood I noticed that one of her front teeth was a gold tooth with a star cut-out of it--clearly for decorational purposes. It was so funny to me that people actually choose to do that to their teeth. And even funnier still that it took me a good 5 minutes of looking at this woman before I even realized what I was looking at. (What does that say about my observational skills? not much.) So I came home and googled "gold teeth with star cut-out." I couldn't believe the sites I came across with pictures of people's "grills". Apparently that's what they call them. If you would like to see all the nastiness that people put on their teeth, click here. It's pretty ridiculous. You probably don't see much of this out in good ole Utah...but here in the gangsta ghetto, it's quite common. Don't you wish you were here? :)

On a completely different subject...we signed back up at the YMCA a couple of weeks ago. I'm finally facing the fact that I need to workout. It's something that I have been avoiding since I was pregnant with baby #3. I was really good for about a year, then I took this last year off. I'm so out of shape it's not even funny. Something I have come to realize is this: when you choose to workout, you are choosing a life of pain. Seriously, last week I was in so much pain I couldn't hardly function. Over the weekend I recovered, and I was back at the gym this morning in a spinning class. Can't wait to see what that's going to feel like in the morning. And I keep thinking, "oh once my body gets some of its strength back, the pain will be a thing of the past." But then I think back to the year that I worked out consistently. I was in pretty good shape, but I have to say that I was in pain pretty much the whole time. So, I don't know why I like to subject myself to this self-inflicted torture, but I will back for another dose of "pain" tomorrow in my pilates class. It will be worth it in the end...right? I sure hope so.

Funny Memories

Ok, so Trevor was cleaning up files on our laptop tonight and came across this little gem. I'm sure you gals that are mentioned in this poem remember that night that it was written. Wasn't it on the choir tour bus? Anyway, here's a little trip down memory lane. I thought it was pretty funny.

My Five Glorious Wishes
Softly, in the summer meadow
The breeze carried a heavenly sound on a pillow;
To my amazement I gazed,
And saw her that made me heart turn ablaze.
Her name was Kimberlee,
She was singing with Heaven’s voice a song from Eternity,
I knew she was the only one for me!

Upon my merry travels, on that same summer eve,
I came across a maiden fair — so fair I couldn’t breathe.
She was milking her cow; an animal named Jon.
She was so filled with rapture, by the time she looked, we were gone;
It didn’t bother me,
For I could see,
I knew she was the only one for me!

It was upon that crisp, colorful morning in the fall,
I met a radiant Megan walking toward me in the hall.
She had just traveled from her abode — in the snow dusted hills —
The breeze bit my face, yet it was her aura that gave me chills.
The Greek Gods cried out in Reverie,
I smiled and shook it off merrily;
For, I knew she was the only one for me!

It was a dazzling, brilliant night at the Christmas Ball,
When I saw that Glorious Angel dancing in the Hall.
The fantastic tree was trimmed with silver and gold;
The waltz began to play, and I asked Melinda so bold:
“I would be pleased if I could have this dance with thee,”
Graciously she replied, ‘Certainly.”
Choirs sang, and I knew she was the only one for me!

It was on a new Easter Morn in the blossomed covered grove,
When I saw the legendary Annie - who had beauty untold.
The vibrant spring freshness made me twitterpaited -
When I asked her name, I knew we were related.
We laughed by the brook carrying water bubbly,
As we carved our initials into the pear tree.
I knew she was the only one for me!

Of these Five Glorious Wishes I cannot decide,
Of which, will be my lucky bride...
by Trevor Aitken and Christian Ward

A Weekend in So.Padre

Well we had a really fun weekend with friends down on South Padre Island. If you've never heard of it, it's at the very bottom tip of Texas right on the Mexican border. We were a little worried that the weather would be rainy--has anyone noticed that Texas has had a very wet summer? But it really was a perfect weekend. We met our friends from Austin, and we all stayed at the Sheraton Beach Hotel. The kids had so much fun swimming at the beach, digging in the sand, swimming at the hotel swimming pool, and swimming some more. On Saturday, some of us went for a ride on a 6-person water-weenie behind a jet-ski. It was a lot of fun. Right before we drove home on Sunday, we went to the turtle rescue center to visit the sea turtles.
We had so much fun, we didn't want to come home!